Summary : The deceased at the time of her death worked as a remote area nurse at the Nullagine Clinic. During the evening of 14 July 2012 the deceased was involved in a head on traffic collision while transporting a patient in the Nullagine Clinic vehicle. She suffered fatal injuries in the collision and died at the scene.

The focus of the inquest was primarily directed towards establishing the factors that contributed to the collision. Evidence was heard about the deceased’s working conditions generally, as well as her specific work demands in the days leading up to the crash, to assist in determining whether work-related fatigue was one of those factors.

The Coroner concluded that although fatigue could not be entirely eliminated as a contributing factor to the collision that night, given not all the relevant evidence was available, the evidence generally suggested that it was unlikely that fatigue was a contributing factor.

The Coroner found that the major contributing factor to the crash was the deceased’s decision to drive centrally in the road over the crest. The evidence supported the conclusion that she did so because this was her customary manner of driving on the remote country road, and she was not expecting to encounter an oncoming vehicle.

The Coroner found that the deceased died 14 July 2012 as a result of multiple injuries and death arose by way of Accident.